


Our duties

by 3am_reader



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Implied Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Link (Legend of Zelda) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Link (Legend of Zelda) Needs a Hug, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, POV Link (Legend of Zelda), POV Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Selectively Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), Sheik is Zelda, Zelda (Legend of Zelda) Has PTSD, Zelda (Legend of Zelda) Needs A Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 06:07:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29202570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3am_reader/pseuds/3am_reader
Summary: Hyrule is in ruins, there's no denying that, and after the 100 years of fighting, Zelda still feels like she is responsible for the weight of her kingdom, it's what she knows, what she was raised to be, a monarch.And Link... well, he's holding up as best as he can, but the consequences of the fight are finally catching up with him. He knows Zelda will be a queen, and due to his loyalties and the love he feels for her, he wants to stay and help her.But both of them can be pretty oblivious to the things that are actually important, even when they realize that their feelings for each other aren't romantic.It's not like they have time to work through their feelings when Link finally collapses and a new Yiga Clan is formed.
Relationships: Link/Prince Sidon, Zelda/Original Character(s)
Kudos: 10





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, this is the first fic I ever write and honestly I'm kinda nervous about this, but I gotta write it. 
> 
> Also, I am no expert on PTSD or selective mutism, feel free to call me out on whatever is not accurate or could be offensive, I will try my best.

When they set foot on the castle ruins once again, they both knew that it was their duty to rebuild Hyrule, and to reign it, since they were still royalty.

At least Zelda was, but Link wasn’t going to leave her alone at this task, so they decided to get married. Not at the time, but later, once they’d rebuild the castle.

The first thing they did was set Link’s little house in Hateno as the official temporary new palace. Zelda had bad memories of the castle and Link’s PTSD was starting to show symptoms, so they decided to keep the kingdom’s business in a place that felt more like home and less like a battlefield.

But suddenly everyone wanted to know what the news of the soon to be Queen and King of Hyrule were. The secrecy of a princess they hadn’t seen in 100 years and her brave and loyal knight who had just woken up a few months ago to defeat the evil of Hyrule.

And them being public figures now had put Hateno in a more special place on the map, messengers from everywhere in Hyrule would arrive and demand the future governors an urgent meeting with the leaders of each region, town and population.

Of course they said yes, mostly out of compromise, they had a couple of months in which the only thing they did was travel back and forth from somewhere in Hyrule to Hateno, with horse rides all day long and brief hours of sleep.

Once they were done with strategizing and gathering information from the kingdom, they could set to start rebuilding, with the castle as the first remodeletion project. They talked to Bolston constructions and they set a time estimate of 6 months, if all went according to the plan.

Now with everything set out to start ruling as soon as possible, Link collapsed, he would space out for hours on end, he wouldn’t eat a thing and his physical appearance looked worse everyday.

In a desperate attempt to not have her newly reborn kingdom crush below her, Zelda sent in the seek of the people Link had been closest to while she was trapped with Ganon.

All four of them stopped by, but the one that truly helped was the Zora prince, with his charming smile and cool character he seemed to be the one who Link felt relaxed and grounded with, so Zelda made an arrangement with King Dorephan who was actually thrilled to know that his son would be involved in helping the brave Hylian who saved them.

Although Zelda soon realized that even being in what Link called his “home” wasn’t home at all, he felt suffocated and she probably couldn’t keep the Zora prince around forever, he had his own responsibilities too. She took one of the toughest decisions she had ever made, she decided to continue political issues by herself and give Link a time off of everything.

Even if she had times when she could still see Ganon’s horrible figure and his awful creatures, she thought that Link had it worse because he hadn’t been trained like she had. Sure he had all the sword and fighting training, but she had been taught to show no weaknesses, and even if it had scarred her for the rest of her life, it also helped her maintain her sanity in moments like this.

And soon enough, she planned a trip to get Link to explore Hyrule in a more vacation-like setting, without the usual heroic stuff, and with the company of his best friend, Sidon.

_She only hoped she could handle this on her own._


	2. Farewell, Link.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blood TW (not really explicit or serious, but still)
> 
> Zelda surprises Link with a vacation plan.

Zelda couldn't make some sort of dramatic entrance, after all, the room they considered the meeting room, was just the small dinner on the small cabin, and it didn't even have a door to slam or something. 

However, Link still seemed stressed when Zelda told him that they needed to have a little chat. It wasn’t her intention to make him feel like this, the poor boy had had a couple of very bad weeks since their final return to Hateno, and her intentions were actually to try and decrease the stress that he was under. 

That's why when Link finally took a seat at the table he was greeted with a travel route marked on the map of his Sheikah Slate (well, now it belonged to the both of them, since it had been Zelda’s before it was Link’s, and she refused to take full custody of it, even if she was back). 

Link had never traveled out of pleasure before, it had always been “go and bring peace to Hyrule, go and save our kingdom” but he’d never actually met the kingdom he was supposed to love and protect with his life. He didn’t exactly have a problem with this and Zelda knew that, but she still wanted to give him something new, a different and fresh point of view, so maybe he wouldn’t feel so trapped. 

He didn’t talk for the whole time Zelda was explaining, not that he would talk much these days, or ever, and he nodded very occasionally just so she knew he was paying attention. As soon as she finished, he shook his head to say no. The princess was waiting for this to happen, so she brought in the secret weapon. 

“Sidon will be accompanying you,” his face changed a bit, but he shook his head once again, maybe even convincing himself that leaving Zelda alone wouldn’t be the right thing to do. but Zelda was past the point where she cared about right or wrong, and that’s why she’d use the Zora prince however she needed him to get Link to be happy. “He is rather excited to go, it’d be a shame to throw this whole charade just to tell him that plans are cancelled.”

Link’s face twisted a bit, he didn’t answer anything this time; very deep down, Zelda kind of knew that Link’s feelings towards the prince might not be just friendly, and she was certain that using this as her secret weapon would make her a bad manipulative person, but perhaps the love for her fianceé, was blinding her from doing things morally right. 

_Is it even love?_

Finally, the knight excused himself with a nod and went outside. He’d memorized the number of steps, and minutes it took him to get from his house to Sidon’s room at the Inn. It had nothing to do with how many times he found himself spending time with the prince, but instead, he was convinced it was a political relations strategy. 

Not dwelling on the errors and fragility of his own logic, he knocked on the door and was pleased but a little nervous to see the always eager Sidon smile at him and step to the side to let him in, like they’d done so many times in the past few weeks. A rehearsed dance. 

Link didn’t need to say anything around the prince anymore, or around the princess either, they both had learned his expressions and mannerisms, even if sometimes it was hard that Link wouldn’t talk, they never even considered asking him to speak if he didn’t want to. And in the long run, this resulted to be beneficial, because Link seemed to communicate his feelings better with how he frowned, pouted and crossed his arms across his chest. 

He was doing all three at that moment, if Sidon found it adorable he knew better than to tell a clearly very pissed knight that he looked cute while being mad. However he still felt like teasing Link a little, so he said, “Hey, what brings you here today?” like he was clueless about it.

Zelda put her hair in a bun. It was starting to get alarmingly long and brushing it in the morning was awfully tedious and time consuming, she needed the hair cut but didn’t have the time to look for someone who would cut it. Oh, the disadvantages of being royalty were finally catching up, she knew how to get people to do what she wanted, fight in a dress and use her sealing magic, but she never learned to cook tasty dishes or what to do with her own hair. 

She was so grateful for her upbringing, but where she was taught to rule, she lacked some basic abilities that any other hylian knew how to do. And that made her feel incredibly insecure. Perhaps some tea would help her feel better.

Truth was, she wasn’t a fan of tea, but the kind girl from the farm just above town had been by one day just to offer some comfort and infusions. Zelda was impressed, all of the hylians that would visit, often needed something from her, which was fine, given that she was supposed to be their Queen. 

When she went outside to boil some water and milk, Link was getting back, he looked brighter, still not happy, but maybe Sidon had been convincing enough. 

“You are back, perhaps you have changed your mind.” 

He sighed but then nodded, he was going to travel with Sidon. 

Zelda wasn’t stressed or anything, she was going to take care of Hyrule for the next six months by herself, that was fine. She just had to remind herself that she was doing this for the boy that always protected and cared for her. 

Link was taking the horses out of the stable, Sidon was taller than the average horse, fortunately Link had once caught a legendary big and strong horse that could support the weight of the Zora prince; after all, they were mostly going to travel in land, and Link couldn’t swim all across Hyrule. 

Sidon grabbed a small backpack and gave it to Link, the only thing left to do was to say goodbye. 

Once Sidon shook Zelda’s hand, the future rulers of Hyrule stood frozen, looking at each other as if they were strangers that wouldn't meet willingly ever again. _How do you say goodbye to your future husband without sounding a little relieved that he'll be gone half a year?_

Finally, Link stepped up and gave Zelda a tight hug, he was truly going to miss her. 

She saw them get on their horses and ride outside of town into the forest path until they were no longer visible through the trees. Hell, she was going to miss him too. 

It was past midnight when someone was knocking loudly on the improvised castle door, the princess wasn’t asleep yet, she was checking a couple of monster problem reports and marking their locations on a map she had pasted in the wall, without Link around she felt more confident to work on whatever she had, to even if Link never said it bothered him. 

Zelda went to open the door and found someone dressed in a dark red cape, with a stab wound and blood dripping from their abdomen, then they fainted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, drink water, and do your french homework or you'll end up being the only one who didn't deliver it.


	3. Stab wound.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link wants to go back, Zelda meets a very particular person.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if i should put a trigger warning on wounds, should i?
> 
> So I was writting this, right? And then it hit me, Zora's don't sleep in beds, they sleep in water, but I wasn't about to change the whole plot over it, so I kinda fixed it.

To say Zelda was panicking would be a lie, no, she was completely fine. She couldn’t sleep the whole night, with a stranger recovering from their wounds still sleeping on her bed. 

But everything was alright, it had to be, she couldn’t mess up before even starting, what would the people say? 

Oh, a princess that let someone die in her arms just because she did the sutures of the wound wrong, or she forgot to hydrate them, maybe people would say she wanted the stranger to die. 

She went upstairs once again just to make sure the stranger wasn’t bleeding out to death. 

They weren’t, and Zelda forced herself to calm down and make her thoughts stop spinning, she knew she was capable. 

She went outside to clear her head and get some bird eggs from the store. When she came back she found the stranger sitting on the bed, now fully awake. 

“Where am I?” they asked. 

Link woke up and found his surroundings strange, he was used to waking up in his second bed in the little Hateno house, with it’s beige walls and brown roof. This however, was a stable bed, and instead of finding Zelda in her own adjacent bed, he remembered he was supposed to be traveling with Sidon. 

He got up and approached the desk where the manager was. 

“Hey, I see you are awake now, I suppose you want to know about your fish friend.” Link nodded. “He told us he’ll be sleeping at Lake Siela, it’s north from here, on the west side of Kakariko bridge.” 

Link gathered their horses from the stable and nodded at the stable owner once again, as a way of saying “thank you, I’ll be leaving.” 

He was doubting that this way of travelling would be ideal, especially since just now he realized that there weren’t going to be many places for Sidon to sleep, who ever thought that sending a Zora and a regular Hylian on a trip would work?

_ Wait, where had he been sleeping all this time on Hateno? _

Zelda was doing again the bandages on the stranger’s wounds, and they were complaining and squirming too much. 

“Can you maybe do it nicely?” the princess was wrapping up their low abdomen. 

“You have yet to answer my questions,” Zelda sighed, “I don’t have the time to spare to be taking care of you.”

“Such nice words coming from the princess,” they said bitterly. 

“Pardon my rudeness, it is not fair to blame you for all my troubles.” Zelda was apologizing sincerely, and just maybe that made the stranger feel more comfortable around her.

“I will tell you who I am, but you’ll probably have to imprison me for it…” she stopped mid-process to look into the eyes of this mysterious person. 

“Could you elaborate on that?” the stranger looked afraid but not doubtful to reveal themselves. 

“My name is Re… I’m master Kohga’s niece, and I’m a member of the Yiga Clan.”

Link was annoyed when he arrived at the lake, the short road from the stable to the lake gave him time to think, and he realized he was being incredibly selfish. He didn’t want Sidon to have a difficult time away from his home and away from his usual lifestyle and commodities just to be babysitting him. 

Sidon was good at reading Link’s expressions, which was why he knew Link wasn’t in the mood for jokes or teasing, he was seriously angry this time and Sidon probably already knew the answer. “So you want to go back, huh?” 

Link didn’t feel surprised anymore at how good Sidon was at reading him, after all, he spent a month or so exaggerating his mannerisms so the Zora prince could learn and communicate with him without Link having to speak. He had let his best friend believe that it was his sharpness of mind that made him excel at non-verbal interactions, but in reality Link had just made it easy for him. 

And he wasn’t that angry, he just wanted to go back, but it was fun to see how the prince was trying to decide what was right or wrong to say. “Why do you want to go back?” 

Link stared at him and pointed at the lake, then at his back in the direction of the stable, he picked up two rocks from the ground and threw one to his right side and the other one to the left, he hoped his message was clear enough. 

“It’s not that far away, Link” he got the message, now Link had to convince Sidon that their sleep arrangement wasn’t the only technical problem. 

Zelda had forgotten all the theory about one on one combat, but panic reactions brought it back up, and she suddenly remembered how she was supposed to get someone on the ground and stop them from moving enough time to at least ask some questions. 

Re wasn’t a fan of being defeated in combat by someone she had though she could win against. And maybe she had been too quick to jump to conclusions when she assumed that Hyrule’s princess and future queen was simply a pretty face, and the shock after the princess threw the first punch was probably the reason why Re found herself lying on the floor so quickly and with absolutely no opportunity to move. 

“Why do you refer to the Yiga Clan as if they were still functioning? Did you come here looking for Link? Are you plotting to find him and kill him?”

“One question at a time, princess.” 

“Why are you here?”

“I got in a fight with my brother, he stabbed me, now we are here.”

“Why would he stab you?” Zelda wouldn’t soften the grip she had on Re, and the yiga clan member was desperate for an opportunity to escape. 

“We had different opinions on how to proceed with our mission. we were supposed to kidnap our objective, that’s it. He wanted to… to kill our objective-” 

“And you were looking for Link, your brother wanted to exterminate Link, just like the rest of you have always wanted to.” Zelda interrupted her. She had read all the reports about the Yiga Clan, about how they were apparently going extinct after master Kohga’s death and Ganon's defeat. 

“That’s where you are wrong, this new Yiga Clan has… a different objective-”

“Speak clearly or I’ll have to design a new Lockup here for you.” The princess was growing tired of this banter, and Re was too, she had to be honest in the hope that Zelda wouldn’t actually throw her in an improvised prison cell, all hopes of escaping lost. 

Re took a big breath of air, and when the words left her mouth, her guts squeezed in guilt. 

“You, princess. You are the clan’s new objective.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a rough week start and almost dropped this story, but writting actually helped me cope.  
> Anyway, be nice to plants yall.


	4. The objective.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little trip to Kakariko to reunite them all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got writers block the past two weeks, it was awful, but then today I wrote without interrumptions.   
> "dios da, dios quita." (it's a saying that means god gives, god takes away, and it refers to situations in which you get something good and something bad, i'm not religious, i just like to use this).

The Kingdom was supposed to be running smoothly after Ganon was defeated, all Zelda was expected to do was to give it a direction. Therefore she felt incredibly frustrated to receive a death threat, how was she supposed to take care of Hyrule if she had to take care of herself?

Re was at the very least shocked that Zelda wasn’t feeling threatened or endangered, she had easily lifted herself from the floor while still holding Re captive and had successfully tied her up to a chair with the smallest rope. But through all of this, she looked lost in her thoughts, almost angry, and Re felt terribly confused,  _ who reacts that way at being threatened? _

Zelda needed someone to help her deal with this, usually she would call in her council, including the best strategist in the land, but now, there was no one working in the castle. Her only companionship, Link, was taking a vacation, and it would be rude to get him back when he had had barely a day to enjoy. 

Zelda finally decided that she would use whoever was available at the time, and to her mind came the idea to consult with the elder from Kakariko Village, Impa. She knew her from before the Ganon Calamity, and now she was old and wise, so naturally Zelda thought she could advise and help her. 

Now the problem was how to get to Kakariko without losing sight of her only lead, she couldn’t just let go of Re when she was a threat. 

“Have you ever traveled by horse?” 

“A couple of times, yeah” Re felt a bit confused at the way the conversation had turned. The princess’ life was endangered and she was asking about horses. 

“Good, because you’ll have to come with me” Zelda started untying the rope that had Re tied up in a chair, but she left the knot that tied her wrists together. 

“Wait a minute, are we going somewhere?” 

“We are headed to Kakariko Village.” 

Re didn’t know that the princess meant that they would be riding together, on the same horse, all the way to Kakariko Village. Because apparently whoever lived there was way too important to even wait half an hour and let Zelda finish drinking her morning tea. Or maybe Re was threatening enough to occupy the mind of the princess as a priority. 

Link was more pissed right now than he’d ever been, how could he let himself fall for a radiant smile and some random words that promised everything would be fine and they just needed to relax, to enjoy the adventure. But Sidon was his best friend after all, and he wasn’t to blame for the fact that Link felt useless being here. 

They were currently riding in the direction of Kakariko, if that could be called riding, they’d been walking really, going so slow at Sidon’s recommendation. Link knew it would take them double the time to get there, it had been like that the previous day, Link had already seen all this scenery but the Zora prince insisted that he needed to pay attention to the details,  _ “Since you had been saving Hyrule, you probably never stopped to admire the wonders of this beautiful place.” _

And then Link couldn’t deny it, it was true. But he didn’t think that looking at a bunch of flowers and herbs would change the fact that he was still overthinking the events of the last year he had spent going around the kingdom and then defeating Ganon. 

Closing his eyes at night he could still see the enormous beast, and Zelda protecting him before he collapsed, and every single monster he defeated while running low on energy and life, all those near-deaths. That was why he felt so restless, why he didn’t feel like doing anything anymore, he was afraid he would have to fight again. 

Anyway, he couldn’t, he wouldn’t admit any of this to Zelda, she was too good and hse would make sure he didn’t set foot in any battle anymore, and would Link do then?

Specially, he couldn’t let his best friend know about this, Sidon, so nice and pure, with a golden heart, he would probably take Link’s place, and in avoiding the fight, Link would put his favorite person on the direct combat line. 

It was better like this, Link was going to take this mandatory vacation, and he would be ready to fight soon, without risking any more lives than his own. 

The noise of galloping distracted him from his own thoughts and whatever explanation Sidon was giving him about the grass they were standing on. He looked back and couldn’t take his eyes off Zelda, who was currently making her way into Kakariko, with someone that looked like a Yiga Clan member, hands tied and a face of terror. 

Sidon saw it too, and before he could say anything to Link, the hylian was already up in his horse, following Zelda as fast as his horse could go. 

“Hey, wait for me!” 

“Oh Goddess, I forgot Link was supposed to be around the area” Re felt like she was jumping from one situation to the other, her head full of thoughts on why would the Princess sound so frustrated to have her appointed knight at her back. 

“Isn’t that a good thing? He can help you out, can’t he?” 

“I’m not about to explain the way I’m ruling Hyrule and how it affects Link, to a stranger that is supposed to kill me.” 

“Well thank you for your consideration, Princess, I’ll be sure to write in my spy report about you that you are very secretive.” Re answered in a tone of mockery. 

By the time they got to Kakariko, Zelda slowed her galloping, allowing Link and Sidon to catch up to them. 

They stopped at Impa’s house, and the guards let them all get in, in a very cramped up spontaneous reunion. 

“This is Re” Zelda spoke up while pointing at the girl, “she is a member of the Yiga Clan, and she showed up yesterday at the palace to kill me…” Re was about to complain, saying her intentions weren’t to actually kill the princess, then Zelda added “well, her brother wanted to kill me, she stopped him.” 

Zelda couldn't look at Link since he was behind her, but she guessed he was probably ready to attack Re on the spot. 

“Good afternoon to you too, Princess” Paya, Impa’s granddaughter, was quick to point out the discourtesy of this particular group. 

“I apologize for my rude behaviour, but I need your help to solve this.”

“I assume you are seeking my counseling, Princess” the old Sheikah woman answered. 

“Frankly, I came here with that intention, but in the meantime of travelling here, I actually came up with a plan.”

“Do tell me more.”

“I will infiltrate the Yiga Clan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this was some sort of plot twist, and I hope ya'll can't predict my next plot twist.   
> Should I sign my author notes?  
> -BBB


End file.
